A retired University of Minnesota-Duluth professor known for his conspiracy theories on John F. Kennedy's assassination, the 9/11 attacks and the Paul Wellstone plane crash has found himself in the news again -- this time for claiming the U.S. government was involved in the Newtown, Conn., school shootings.

In his online writings, James Fetzer cites chief among his credentials his ties to UMD, a fact lamented by at least one professor at another university.

Fetzer, also an author and former Marine Corps officer, claims in an online journal that Israeli Mossad death squads and the U.S. government might have been behind the school shootings in Connecticut. At the end of his piece, Fetzer describes himself as an emeritus professor at UMD, and he uses his UMD e-mail address as his contact.

UMD officials say Fetzer has the right to express his views -- but he also has the responsibility to make clear he's not speaking for the university.

Other retired UMD faculty members have been identified as emeriti when writing opinion pieces in the pages of the News Tribune, including physician Robert Goldish and American Indian studies professor Robert Powless.

Fetzer's Newtown conspiracy theory earned him a mention by writer Michael Moynihan in the online magazine "Daily Beast," an article titled: "Newtown Conspiracy Theories: Obama, Iran, and Other Culprits." Beneath that, a secondary headline reads: "The government was behind the school massacre. Wait, it was Obama,
in a ruse to take our guns away. No, it was Iran! Israel! Batman! Michael Moynihan on the paranoid wing's 'real truth' about Sandy Hook."

Fetzer writes in his online column, published on "Press TV and "Veterans Today": "The Sandy Hook massacre appears to have been a psy op intended to strike fear in the hearts of Americans by the sheer brutality of the massacre, where the killing of children is a signature of terror ops conducted by agents of Israel."

The act, Fetzer said in an interview with the News Tribune, "is part of an escalating series of covert operations intended to create hysteria in the American people in order to support gun control legislation that completely subverts the Second Amendment."

Fetzer lists his UMD e-mail address as the way for readers to contact him, which was granted to him as part of his retirement package. He says he doesn't speak for UMD and that UMD hasn't suggested he refrain from connecting himself to the university.

"There is something called freedom of research, freedom of inquiry," he said, "which the University of Minnesota has respected. I can't imagine why any university would want to discourage its faculty from exercising their independent thought and critical reasoning ability."

Faculty, including faculty emeriti, are protected by the Regents Policy on Academic Freedom and Responsibility, according to Andrea Schokker, executive vice chancellor of academic affairs at UMD. The policy protects the freedom of creative expression and to speak or write on matters of public interest without institutional discipline or restraint. That comes with the responsibility to make it clear that one isn't speaking for the institution, she said.

But to the average person who reads the Fetzer piece, it appears Fetzer represents UMD, said Donna Halper, an associate professor of communication at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. Fetzer identifies himself as a UMD professor emeritus and notes his faculty page on UMD's website.

"For a professor to be spreading stereotypes under the guise of academic freedom is profoundly disappointing," said Halper, whose earlier career in radio led her to Duluth several times. She found Duluth to be tolerant and compassionate, she said, and she was surprised to read Fetzer's work, which she classified as a "fringe view."

"I'm not saying he doesn't have the right to speak, but ... when it comes from a professor, it makes me wonder: What did he teach his students?" asked Halper, who teaches courses on philosophy and communication ethics. "Here you have someone who is allegedly an educated person spreading such uneducated opinions in the name of Duluth. That's outrageous."

Fetzer, of Oregon, Wis., and a professor of philosophy, spent 35 years teaching at universities, 19 of those years at UMD. He was awarded a McKnight Professorship from the University of Minnesota in 1996, which included a $100,000 research grant. He retired from UMD in 2006.

He has an Internet radio show, has written more than two dozen books and has become a well-known voice among those who claim that Kennedy was assassinated by his own government. He also theorizes that the U.S. government was involved in the Wellstone plane crash and the 9/11 attacks.

As a philosopher, Fetzer said, he cares about the truth, and his scientific research has revealed that "the government lies to us."

Or he's very intelligent and most everyone else is a dumbshit. who knows?

__________________
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father ... And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

"If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." - Thomas Jefferson

__________________
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father ... And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

"If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." - Thomas Jefferson

If they wanted to do this to take our guns, he would have used AN ACTUAL ASSAULT RIFLE to kill the kids.

Care to expound upon this post? What did he use?

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As to the OP article, you'd think a "professor" has heard of Occam's razor.

A) Mentally ill person learns the person he trusts most is giving up on him, so he exacts revenge, and knowing his life is now forfeit decides to cause as much heartache as possible.

B) In an attempt to seize all guns, the US government runs a psy op on a kid with aspergers, who's mother happens to be a "prepper" with a cache of weapons, and gets her to commit him as the flash point.

When did this psy op start anyways, in the womb, when he was diagnosed, last year? How do we know this op wasn't the gov trying to create new mental health laws so they can imprison political foes, or to weaken the jews in hollywood and EA games.

Simply put assault rifles by definition are fully automatic. The weapon used was semi-auto so that alone makes it not an assault rifle.

But to the bigger point it was also not even a 'assault weapon', which CT has had laws against possession of since 1993. The rifle was purchased in the last decade legally in CT and met no established definition of 'assault weapon'. It was simply an average run of the mill semi-automatic firearm, built upon the single most popular rifle receiver design made today.

__________________
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t*rd by the clean end"

Simply put assault rifles by definition are fully automatic. The weapon used was semi-auto so that alone makes it not an assault rifle.

But to the bigger point it was also not even a 'assault weapon', which CT has had laws against possession of since 1993. The rifle was purchased in the last decade legally in CT and met no established definition of 'assault weapon'. It was simply an average run of the mill semi-automatic firearm, built upon the single most popular rifle receiver design made today.

Then I don't get how him using an automatic would help this mythical gun grab. The public already can't sell/own them.